3g Maruyama in my 60ml Banko Shiboridashi. A sencha with excellent balance. Wonderful sweet, grassy, buttery aftertaste. This and the Togei were among my fav. Kinda wishing I participated in the fuka...

I don‘t really know how to describe it, but I can say that I like it a lot. Brewed this way, it‘s thick and strong but not with an overly obtrusive taste. It‘s not very sweet and in general, there is no one taste that takes a predominant role. That‘s also probably the reason I can‘t exactly describe the taste and why some of you say it is simple and lacking character/personality.

Each infusion carried on the taste nicely with a very gradual decline ending with a nice mild brew for the 5th infusion. The infusions didn‘t even look too different from one another. It may be the tea with the best resteeping qualities out of the whole bunch.

Like with the other asamushi, it makes me feel very relaxed and at the same time gives me the heightened awareness from the caffeine, which we have found to be more apparent in asamushi than in fukamushi. I like this a lot about asamushi and will make sure to have an asamushi open along with a fukamushi in the future so I can go back and forth depending on my mood or the occasion.

I think this is more of a tea to sit down and take some time with rather than to just have a cup sitting on your desk to sip from casually. A nice tea to have with company who aren‘t used to drinking green tea for sure....but LOL, I‘m not exactly describing the taste here, am I?

Stentor wrote:A2: Hachiju-hachiya, MaikoIt‘s not very sweet and in general, there is no one taste that takes a predominant role. That‘s also probably the reason I can‘t exactly describe the taste and why some of you say it is simple and lacking character/personality.

I agree. Nothing smacked me in the face, but I thought the tea was very well balanced and pleasing. I also suspect that this tea could taste bland if sampled immediately after the stronger tasting teas in the lineup. I had this one first, which may explain my preference for it.

I liked the Sencha Premier and Maruyama very much as well, with Premier winning out for me in the later steeps (although, more practice brewing the Maruyama could eliminate this edge). I wasn’t a big fan of Togei, but it was my first kabusecha so I might just be unaccustomed to the style of tea.

debunix wrote:This one has a lot more staying power than the Hachiju-hachiya. Nice!

Did you think the Hachiju-hachiya didn't have much staying power?Hmm. I though it resteeped exceptionally well.

Chubseus wrote:

Stentor wrote:A2: Hachiju-hachiya, Maiko

I agree. Nothing smacked me in the face, but I thought the tea was very well balanced and pleasing. I also suspect that this tea could taste bland if sampled immediately after the stronger tasting teas in the lineup. I had this one first, which may explain my preference for it.

Yeah, you're probably right. That's why it's nice that the quantity of the samples is large enough to do at least 2 tastings. I've found my impression of some of the teas to change with the second tasting. I guess it can be due to what you had to eat before and things like that, although I've tried not to eat anything too spicy/tasty before sampling the teas.

For instance, I've had my second tasting of the Hatsumi today and it was much better than the first one. It's still not an outstanding fukamushi, but it's all right and I enjoyed it this morning (brewed it at 1:1 ratio and a little colder at 65/70/74/...° C which may help a lot with this one).

1) Maruyama - MaikoBright, balanced and smooth with no astringency. Dramatic difference in second steeping which brought more kelp and even a bit of nuttiness. Much preferred this to its more expensive brother, Hachiju-hachija.2) TIE - Sencha Premier, Adagio & Shin-Ryoku, Den'sTotally different teas both highly enjoyable. Sencha Premier, to me at least, had a nearly fukamushi flavor profile, but the leaves where clearly light-steamed. Shin-Ryoku had a great, lingering sweetness around the throat and a hint of marine. Easy going and pleasant.4) Kabusecha - Togei (?)Really nice kabusecha. Super thick, rubbery and dark leaves -- like steamed kale or something. I've had kabusecha on a couple occasions previously and I'm not the biggest fan. For folks who like it, this one was probably awesome. Many steeps. 5) Hachiju-Hachiya, MaikoI didn't take any notes on this one and can't recall why I didn't like it as much as the others.

tortoise wrote:5. F3: Fuga Super Premium, ZenchaI just didn't understand what this tea was going for. The flavors were too muddy; nothing really emerged to give the tea an identity. I used recommended parameters, so I'm fairly certain it wasn't a mistake. It did not taste nasty, far from it. Good quality. Just unremarkable to my palate.

i tried the the fuga this morning at work and i'don't like it.the aroma isn't bad, but its way too light..i expected more from a tea in this price-section..

tortoise wrote:5. F3: Fuga Super Premium, ZenchaI just didn't understand what this tea was going for. The flavors were too muddy; nothing really emerged to give the tea an identity. I used recommended parameters, so I'm fairly certain it wasn't a mistake. It did not taste nasty, far from it. Good quality. Just unremarkable to my palate.

i tried the the fuga this morning at work and i'don't like it.the aroma isn't bad, but its way too light..i expected more from a tea in this price-section..

If you have some left try higher temp water 175º for the first infusion. I also always brewed with slightly longer times.

I was really impressed with Fuga SP but my brewing parameters were quite different from Chip´s recommendations which are a bit on the light side. I remember it being mild as in not much tendency to bitterness or astringency and lots of deep green fresh veggie flavour.

Also make sure your leaf to water ratio is sufficient....Chip has good recs for that.

2nd steep: 165F 25s. Deeper flavor now with a hint of bitterness. The first infusion was more elegant while this is a big rougher. Both are nice, though.

3rd steep: 175F 60s. Pretty subdued, but decent veggie notes still coming through along with the standard sweet fukamushi taste.

I'm a big fan of this fuka. I've bought it before and really enjoyed it. It is very unique for a YM; it's definitely more subdued than is usual (especially compared to something like O-cha's YM Supreme).